Singapore’s grand growth plan

Housing, business and industry will take up more of Singapore’s green and beautiful land in the years to come, but not at the expense of parks and nature reserves. The government plans to create space with land reclamation and development of reserve land so at least a million more people can live in what is one of the most livable cities in the world.

The population is expected to grow from 5.31 million to between 6.5 million and 6.9 million by 2030. But Singapore will still remain a beautiful city. Check out the e-book, A High-Quality Living Environment for All Singaporeans. National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan, a keen blogger, and his ministry have come up with a beautiful publication outlining the grand plan.

The land available will increase from 71,000 hectares to 76,600 hectares and it will be put to greater use. Housing, business and industry, parks and nature reserves and other recreational facilities, public utilities, transportation networks, ports and airports and defence requirements will take up 96 per cent of the land. Just 4 per cent will be left for other purposes.

The Land Use Plan, outlined in the e-book, says:

By 2030, more than half of our land (58%) will be allocated to uses which enable us to live, work and play in a high quality environment. These uses include housing, services and manufacturing jobs, facilities and amenities, as well as green spaces such as parks and nature reserves, essential services and utilities like water and electricity. 19% of our land will support mobility within Singapore and connectivity to the rest of the world. Another 19% of our land will be for our defence needs.

Here’s the table from the e-book.

Land use

Land supply 2010

Land supply 2030

Housing

10,000 (14%)

13,000 (17%)

Industry and commerce

9,700 (13%)

12,800 (17%)

Parks and nature reserves

5,700 (8%)

7,250 (9%)

Community, institution and recreation facilities

5,400 (8%)

5,500 (7%)

Utilities (eg, power, water treatment plants)

1,850 (3%)

2,600 (3%)

Reservoirs

3,700 (5%)

3,700 (5%)

Land transport infrastructure

8,300 (12%)

9,700 (13%)

Ports and airports

2,200 (3%)

4,400 (6%)

Defence requirements

13,300 (19%)

14,800 (19%)

Others

10,000 (14%)

2,800 (4%)

Total

71,000 (100%)

76,600 (100%)

The number of housing units will go up from 1.2 million (including 900,000 HDB flats) to 1.9 million. Public transport will be more widely used. Seventy-five per cent of morning peak-hour journeys will be by public transport, up from 70 per cent now. Eight out of 10 homes will be within a 10-minute walk from a train station. There will be new towns and older ones revamped. I would love to see all the developments take place.

Comments

Re I would love to see all the devts take place:
Yes, and they should take place BEFORE we bring in 1.7 million more people.

At the moment, the plan is to start work on carrying out all these devts at some point in the next 17 years. The land needs to be reclaimed, settle in, and be built on, before it can be used. All that, it is said, will be done by 2030. This despite a major shortage of sand.

So where do the 1.7 million people coming in during those 17 years stay, live and play in the meantime? We are still struggling to accommodate 5.3 million.

Enough of assurances and govt leaders being confident that whatever will happen. Show us the goods first. Show us the infrastructure is in place first. And please no towns with just homes and no transport lines and other basic facilities, which has been the case so far, and is the case in Punggol East, Sengkang, etc. Deliver the whole she-bang!

“Seventy-five per cent of morning peak-hour journeys will be by public transport, up from 70 per cent now.”

Isn’t that expected with a larger population? The roads simply can’t accommodate that many more cars. It also means that many car owners today will no longer be car owners in future. People don’t realize that yet…